Currently there is not a regulation or requirement to track every flight a pilot takes; however, most pilots prefer to track as many flights as possible to ensure that the pilot is logging the flights that are required for license certification. For example, an accurate flight logbook may help a pilot keep track of their total flight hours and demonstrate that they are “current” for a particular type of flight. More specifically, as outlined in the Federal Aviation Regulation (FAR) 14 CFR §61.57(a) “no person may act as a pilot in command of an aircraft carrying passengers or of an aircraft certificated for more than one pilot flight crewmember unless that person has made at least three takeoffs and three landings within the preceding 90 days.” Similarly, FAR 14 CFR §61.57(b) indicates that “no person may act as pilot in command of an aircraft carrying passengers during the period beginning 1 hour after sunset and ending 1 hour before sunrise, unless within the preceding 90 days that person has made at least three takeoffs and three landings to a full stop during the period beginning 1 hour after sunset and ending 1 hour before sunrise.” Thus to legally engage in certain types of flying, the pilot must be “current” for that type of flight, meaning that they must have performed certain flight activities within a specified time period prior to the proposed flight. By recording these events in a flight logbook, pilots can verify whether they are legal to make a given flight, and can answer relevant detailed questions about their flight experience.
Pilots have historically kept track of their flying in paper logbooks, but over the past decade or so manual entry electronic versions have become more popular. For example, some pilots use a simple spreadsheet to track their flying electronically. Other pilots use tools, such as LogbookPro®, which are primarily desktop-based applications that keep a data file on the user's PC, but may have an option to back up the data file to an Internet-based server.
Unfortunately, each of the available logbook options mentioned above are also associated with a different set of problems for the pilot using them. Paper logbooks, though still quite common, are perhaps the most problematic as individual entries are subject to a variety of accuracy errors, plus there is no easy way to backup the logbook, which is important since paper logbooks can be easily lost or destroyed. More important, the information in the paper logbook is not readily accessible so that answering even simple insurance or currency questions are very difficult. While spreadsheets are more easily backed up and corrections are more easily made, reporting from them can still be difficult. Moreover, since the spreadsheet does not identify particular semantics of flight data, the individual spreadsheet entries are also very prone to input errors adding further to reporting challenges. Desktop-based applications, while better, still keep the data on the pilot's PC or laptop, so that access is really only available when the pilot is at their PC. Some desktop-based applications like LogbookPro® can sync to the web as a backup, but the web is only a backup; the pilot does not have universal access to their logbook data. More specifically, the pilot may not access the stored data unless they are using the computer that generated the original data file. Even web-based solutions that provide universal access regardless of the computer being used and automatic back-up of data, are only accessible for data entry and review when the pilot is connected to the website, which is generally not available during a flight.
In addition to these individual problems, the available logbooks options all share at least two deficiencies. Namely, none of these logbook solutions collect any data other than what the pilot explicitly enters and all of the available logbook solutions limit what is stored to flight facts, because they lack the ability to share great flight experiences with friends and elicit their feedback.